The Thirty-ninth Cabbage-- Lock, Stock and Barrel

Here Harry Potter fans! This is fun!
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harry-potter-films-according-to-someone-who-never-saw-them/

Here weed fans! This is fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWuHuqWauRU&feature=related

Okay, so this blog post, this blog post, this blog post!! I dunno what the fucking shitty ass cunt balls I'm going to talk about but let me say that I have become (as everyone has appeared to) quite enthralled by OFWGKTA.  If you don't know what that is, it's a demented hip hop collective that stands for Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. They include new underground rap artists like Tyler The Creator, MellowHype, Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean. I'm not sure why they intrigue me so much, a lot of their lyrics are just horrible and offensive, but there's humor in it and maybe that's what I like, taking disturbed and demented things to a comedic level. Anyway, check it out, you might like it, I'll link some videos...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSbZidsgMfw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFNaFeIm4bU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk68dCUQjzE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWMOEVdXR2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_loMbmKJ8

Now on to some stuff!

Alright, next, let's talk about film, but not film as in the art form of movie making but film as in film stock or the literal series of pictures that makes up a movie (before everything went digital).  Hope you're excited!  Good old fashioned film stock is made of celluloid, which is a type of plastic, and this is more permanent than the thin paper film that movies started out on.  Early on all film stock was also nitrate based and highly highly flammable and the fires were incredibly hard to put out.  As you all know films started as black and white endeavors with no sound, eventually sound was added and then eventually color was added also.  The first attempt with color film was Kinemacolor which lasted from 1908 to 1914 and was achieved by showing a black and white film behind alternating red and cyan frames.  Next was Technicolor (which is much more well known) and was used from 1916 to 1952, this was a lot more complex and allowed for much more color and actually evolved four times over it's existence.
There are different formats for film stock, 8mm, this film stock is 8mm wide and there are two versions of it, standard 8mm and Super 8.  Standard 8 came out during the Great Depression and was produced as a cheaper way of making home movies (Kodak stopped producing standard 8 film in the early 1990s).  Super 8 was released in 1965 and became popular with amateur film makers because it was easier to use and had better picture quality than standard 8.
There was a 9.5mm film that was primarily meant to be cheap for home users and a way to recreate popular films for home viewing, however, it was damaged easily due to it's perforation and not very popular.
One of the most popular formats was 16mm.  It was also was intended for home use and was also used to rent popular movies for home viewing.  However, some movies were filmed on 16mm and a lot of TV shows and educational videos were shot in this format.  Just like 8mm film, 16mm came in a larger form called Super 16, it only had one sided perforation in order to have a wider screen area.
For a very very short time there was a 28mm format, however, it didn't last.
35mm film stock was the most common format for motion pictures.  There are many many forms of 35mm stock including a 3 perforation form and Super 35.  35mm stock is still used today as the most common format for major motion pictures.
The last common gauge for film stock is 70mm/65mm.  Now, the reason there are two here is that the films are filmed on 65 and then printed on 70 to be projected.  The 70mm print is for wide, high resolution films and has a very wide aspect ratio, it's usually used for grandiose and intense films that would look good in an IMAX or anything with a large aspect ratio (a lot of Spiderman 2 was shot in this format).
IMAX is another format and it's just 70mm film on it's side to create an extremely wide view.
The rest is all digital and shit and I don't wish to get into that (even though it's the way of the future), but maybe I will at a later date.

Now that you have all of that information, I'm going to switch gears.
So, as I've mentioned before, I am Winter Chairs.  http://www.mediafire.com/?n9zdg99ajea4ni5
I have also finished my LP called Meet The Cactus, so if you would be interested in that let me know or give me an email and I can give it to you, it comes with a coloring book! (all pages being hand drawn).
Here's a preview from the coloring book...

Real quick, my recommendations for tonight are as follows... Movie, it's Repo! The Genetic Opera, it's a musical rock opera about a company that takes over the world and loans out organs to people but also repossesses them if the people can't make their payments.  For my album, I'm going to go with... Mines by Menomena, it's such a great album and a great continuation of Menomena's series of albums.

Anyway, I shall bid you adieu, Tah!

The Thirty-first Scrimmage-- Pointless?

I'm going to be vain in this post for a second and give you some more information about myself (not personal information though, not too much at least), why am I doing this? because I'm excited right now and I wanna share some things!  I'll probably also include some other random things so consider this my next random topic post, sound good?

Now, as I included in one or two of my previous posts, my friend has started an artist collective called .  Now, what I don't believe I included is MY place in this group, well, I'm a bit of a musician (a very small bit) and record under the name Winter Chairs.  Now, you're probably thinking, "so what, why do I give a fuck about this dumb ass's life and what he does and all that shit, I came here for some mother fucking film and I demand no less!! DAMN HIM!!!" well hold on sir, I'll have some film for you momentarily (scout's honor), I'm just getting excited about what I'm doing in this group and I want to share things with you, you mean, ungrateful bastards.  ANYWAY... as an   Well, not only does The Frosty Seats (yeah, I'm gonna keep changing my band name), have an EP ready, called B.Y.O.B (don't laugh at me), but a full length LP about done called Meet The Cactus.  I'm also planning a concept LP based on characters, with every song tell one character's story AND an LP full of poor recordings and demos of songs that I've either forgotten or don't want to rerecord and do better for an actual LP.  None of that is what I'm excited about though!  What I'm truly excited about is my musical project that will include a good amount of artists (I hope) called The Darwin Project.  What is this you ask?  Well my good sir, it is a sample (a simple sample), that I have created that I'm sending out to the musical artists.  The trick of the project is that the artist must use the sample, unaltered, at least once in a song.  After that they can either change it however they would like, or not use it again (sounds fun huuh?).  Well, I suppose it's my way of working with people, indirectly of course.  Why did I choose the title The Darwin Project? well, let me tell you that also my young lad.  I liked the idea of using Charles Darwin, the father of evolution theory, to explain this project.  I wanted the artists to take my little sample (my monkey, so to say) and evolve it into something different and more complex (or make it into a man, more or less).  That's why it's The Darwin Project! (lame? maybe!)  Now, the most exciting thing about this project is that the first song relating to it is done, and it was done by one Evan Campbell (thank you Evan), and here's the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81qYCc80obQ , check it out, it's awesome, I'll keep posting who has songs done as they get finished (hopefully, most, if not all will have videos).  I can't wait to see what happens with it next!

Now a bit more about myself...  I'm a student, I'm a new vegetarian, I'm broke, I wouldn't say I'm an artist, but I dabble in the arts, primarily audio and visual.  My dabbling is why I want to be a film maker, I have many ideas for films I'd love to make someday and I have said a few of these in one of my past posts.  More or less I have a lot of ambitions and very little drive.  Will I ever make it as a film maker? who knows, but I want to give it a shot, I'm willing to take nearly any job I can land in the field though.  I like fucked up things, monsters, drug imagery, psychological things.  I like depth in my film and art, but I can also be a sucker for stupidity (I love the film Anchorman).  I generally dislike action films and despise super hero movies (with the exception of the rebooted Batman series), I usually dislike horror too, but there are exceptions there, like the Hellraiser films (at least the first few).  I'm fairly opinionated, but try to be open to new things and I'm generally willing to give things multiple second chances (especially if it's an interest of someone close to me).  I love music and listen to too much of it, I could easily write a music blog considering that I have studied it since I was 13.  Film is a bit new to me, bit it is definitely a passion and learning is my reason for doing this blog.  I have a beautiful, amazing, perfect, awesome girlfriend who means more to me than anyone will ever know, I owe her so much it's crazy.  I try to be deep, but I feel like I'm not too deep.  I want to get started writing a short story script, but something keeps on keeping me from it (I'll probably be too busy this summer to really do anything with it anyway).  I'm about to head off to University, I'll be going to Lincoln, so if you're there and somehow read this blog, let me know, we can chill.  I'm very introverted and don't make friends easily but I always want to talk to intelligent people who share some of my interests.  I don't know if I have a favorite director but I enjoy the works of Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, The Coen Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock and a few others a lot.  I have a HUGE HUGE HUGE soft spot for old movies, I don't care what type, I just love old Hollywood, everything seemed so much better back then (I especially love the old comedies, the stars could do EVERYTHING!).  I spent a lot of my time watching movies or playing music but I don't as much anymore.  I have an odd love and fascination with masks, and will probably attempt to incorporate masks into any films I attempt.  I love many different styles of music but I hate country.  As you know, I love monsters.  I think that's all you really need to know about me for now though, maybe I'll share a bit more as time goes on.

Okay, I'm going to go on to some other stuff, I think with this post I'm going to start giving you all one album recommendation and one movie recommendation per post (sound like a decent idea?).  For this post, one album you should definitely check out (if you haven't heard it already) is Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens.  It's one of my favorite (if not my favorite) Sufjan Stevens album and is a religiously charged, poetic folk album.  It's super chill and has some of his best songs (at least in my opinion), it's wonderful from start to finish.  My movie recommendation for this post will keep with the seven title thing and be The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman.  The joking tale of a knight who comes back from the crusades and gets into a game of chess with Death.  It's a classic of international cinema (it's Swedish so be prepared for that).  I looked back at my old Deviant Art account and realized I did this in my notes back then (which were like a much more pointless blog), so apparently I'm prone to this shit.  There are my recommendations for today though, now on to the next subject in this hodge podge of a post!!

So, this is hilarious, but also really REALLY lame, it was a bumper at SXSW and is Mario as an indie film... It COULD be a funny and interesting idea... if it didn't include so many lame game related jokes and puns, sort of ruins it... it's still pretty funny though.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TdczoetXk4

Well, it looks like I'm gonna jump onto the movie stuff now (see, I got there you impatient droogs!).  I'm going to give you a brief summary of the movie studios! (I know you're so happy).  First off, by the 20s, the production companies became so big that they controlled everything from the production to the distribution to even the theaters and stars themselves.  This and the policies of the major studios led to the "studio system", there were 5 major studios and they were 20th Century Fox, RKO, Paramount, Warner Bros. and MGM.  RKO is no longer a company and MGM almost went under also. The three smaller studio companies, known as "The Little Three" are Universal, Columbia and United Artists.  These were considered little because they didn't own their own theaters.  These are not the only studios, there are minor studios and independent studios, however, they were always more lenient than the majors.

Anyway, I'm tired now, I'm sorry that I didn't give much information on this blog, I'll do better next time I swear!  It was nice chatting with you, have a great day. 

The Twenty-ninth Child-- Shoot!

So, I've noticed doing these blog posts that nearly all of them fit into a style or category.  I have my genre posts, my director posts, my script posts, and my sort of random things posts.  Then on top of that I have the few that don't fit like my post about The Beatles, or my history post about HUAC or my movie post about Citizen Kane.  Well today I'm going to do another out of category post, this one is about camera shots.

First off, let me say that I had this whole post done and it deleted it all, so I'm totally starting over from scratch... I'm pissed...

ANYWAY, if you like my blog go check this motherfucker out... http://musingsofamoviedouche.blogspot.com/

AND, after you're done reading this here, check out this crazy British film maker... http://www.cyriak.co.uk/

Alright, let's restart this piece of shit I guess...

First off we have an aerial shot, which is a far away, high shot, generally to capture landscapes.  A crane or helicopter is usually used to get this kind of shot.  An aerial shot can also make a character seem insignificant.

Next up is considered an "American shot" (at least in France) or a 3/4 shot.  It's a medium-long shot of a group of characters, all of the characters are set up strategically so that all of them are on screen at once.  It's used to allow for dialogue without a lot of camera changes.  The reason it's known as an "American shot" is that French critics mistakenly thought that the shot was common in all American films when it was really only common in low-budget films.

There's the bird's-eye shot, which is an overhead shot where the camera looks directly down at the top of the subject.

A close up is a tight shot on a subject.  It gets close up on a subject or part of a subject to show emotion or emphasis on something specific.  They are very detailed shots that can have many purposes.

Next up is the crane shot (pretty much like the aerial shot).  A crane shot is done solely with a crane in order to shot large groups or to view actors from above or move away from them.

A dolly zoom is an in-camera special effect used to cause an unsettling feeling or feeling of vertigo.  It's made by having a zoom lens shift the angle of view as the camera moves toward or away from the subject in an attempt to keep the subject the same size.  It was used by Alfred Hitchcock in the movie Vertigo.

Then there is the dutch angle.  This is when the camera is tilted off of it's axis in order to raise the uneasiness of a scene.  Dutch angles are used often by directors like Terry Gilliam, Sam Raimi and Tim Burton and a lot in the old Batman TV series.

Establishing shots set up a scene and shot the relationship between characters and settings.  It shows where or when the scene will take place.

A follow shot or tracking shot is where cameras pursue a character.

Forced perspective is an optical illusion to make an object appear farther or closer or larger or smaller.  It's done by having the larger thing closer to the camera making the thing farther away seem smaller.

The next shot is the freeze frame. It's a still frame that is repeated multiple times to make it appear that no movement is occurring

A hanging miniature is another in-camera special effect where there are still subjects in the foreground with the action all in the background.  It's similar to a matte shot.

High-angle shot is when the camera is placed above eye-line and looks down on a character, it usually makes the character seem powerless or vulnerable.

Another is the long shot.  It depicts a character's entire form and places them in relation to its surroundings.  A scene setting long shot that shows location more is an extreme long shot.

A long take is an uninterrupted shot with no edits.  It's very unusual in film and hard to achieve.  The Alfred Hitchcock film Rope (1948)  was intended to be all one long take, but due to cameras at the time, they had to switch film rolls (however, the entire film only consists of 11 takes).

A low-angle shot is, more or less, the exact opposite of a high-angle shot.  This is when the camera is below eye-line looking up at a character.

A master scene is a scene, from start to finish, all of the characters are in the scene and in view.  It's usually used as an establishing shot.

Mattes are in-camera special effects where two or more frames are combined into one single frame.  It usually combines one frame in the foreground put over something else in the background.  Traveling mattes are background mattes that move, static mattes are background mattes that stay in place.

Next is a medium shot, which is a camera shot from a medium distance.  It's a bit hazy as to what constitutes a medium shot.

An over the shoulder shot is a shot of someone taken over the shoulder of another character.  The character who's closest to the camera's head and shoulder are generally shown in the shot.

Panning is a technique where a camera moves or rotates horizontally, either following or moving across the subject.

Next is a point of view shot, it shows the thing that character is looking at from the perspective of the character.

Racking focus changes the attention of the viewer by shifting the focus from a subject in the foreground to one in the background, or vice versa.

Another technique is a reaction shot.  The shot cuts away from the main action of a scene to show a character's reaction.  It's used to show emotion.

A  sequence shot involves a long takes and a intricate movement of the camera.

Another is the shot reverse shot (or a shot/countershot).  It's a technique where one character is shown looking at and talking to another character and then turning the camera around to show the other character.

The SnorriCam is a bit less common in film but much more common in music videos.  This film technique is when a camera is attached to the body of an actor and pointing toward the actor.  It gives the affect of the character standing still and everything around it moving.

A tilt is another technique where the camera moves up or down vertically.

A tracking shot (or dolly shot) is where a dolly mounted camera follows a subject.  It can be used to move toward, away from or next to the subjects.

Next is a trunk shot, this is a shot where the camera is placed in the trunk of a car pointing up at the actors, it's in the perspective of whatever's in the trunk.

Another is a two shot, which is a simple technique where two characters are displayed on screen at once, with once actor generally in the foreground and another farther off in the background.

There are a few shots used in films, I hope that helps with understanding films.  However, if you're not interested in studying films you may not care, anyway, hope you've enjoyed it.

Hasta La Vista babies!

The Seventh Sense-- Because You Care

Howdy everyone... sorry I wasn't able to do another post yesterday, but I shall make it up today, and discuss a lot of things, including some more personal things and ambitions because I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do lately (and also I know you care SO much).

Alright, first on the agenda... apparently Ingmar Bergman is going to be on the banknotes of Sweden, that's pretty sweet (if you don't know Bergman, check out The Seventh Seal or The Magician... or better yet ALL of his movies), that's quite an honor and I personally think it's cool of Sweden to put important figures (who aren't just leaders of the country) on their money (what do YOU think America?)... but here's a bit more on it...   http://www.imdb.com/news/ni9359902/

Secondly, for me personally (if I can one day become a filmmaker) I want to tell good stories, the stories (real or imaginary) that really make people think, that can really make people feel.  I'd love to write my own films (but I'm not sure I'm a good enough writer)...  One story I've been thinking of lately that I'd like to do eventually is the story of the Young Bosnians at the start of WWI, perhaps telling the story of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (it's a story that I always picture in film when I hear it).  One thing I always picture (especially when I'm out in secluded areas in nature) is how I'd love to make a really good modern western film... I mean, what do YOU think when you see a scene like this?   (ignore the road)

When I see this I think of what it'd be like in the 1800s, when there were fewer people.


Anyway... there are a LOT of things I wanna do some day, I wanna make all of these movies and I'd love to do something really trippy and surreal also, something that's like a major acid trip, or a dream.  Or, at some time, a documentary.  There are so many great stories out there and I'd love to tell them all.  However, I AM the kind of guy who would take ANY job in film, just to be doing what I'm passionate about (teaching film would be awesome too).

On to the next subject (because I don't wanna bore you)...  I'm going to go onto my next topic...
The importance of film, this is a wide and opinion based topic I know, but I'm gonna try it anyway...  Film is a very important art form (and if you say it's not art, you're wrong, I'm sorry) perhaps the most important modern art form.  It is both effected by and effects culture and can communicate any literal or abstract idea the creator or audience chooses.    Film is a great way to see what was going on in society at any given time, because it reflects things.  A crime film, for example, will reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people they're portraying while trying to teach people about things, maybe there are reasons for the people to commit these crimes.  It can be used to teach people, to guide people, to change things to show people many different sides of an issue or just life in general, maybe things they've never seen or thought about.  Film is one of the most important and moving art forms (at least when done right) and I'd feel so lucky to be involved in it.

Anyway, I'm gonna finish it up with some recommendations for all of you, these are some of my favorite films and they deserve to be seen (if you haven't already seen them)...
Donnie Darko, this is one of my favorite films ever, it's odd, it's deep, it's suspense and horror and everything... I'm not sure why but I got lost in it, it's a good film.  127 Hours, True Grit, and Black Swan, The Big Leboswki, Synecdoche, New York, all I've already talked about.  Persepolis, and animated film about an Iraqi girl who goes to France during the Iraqi civil war (and a very good comic adaptation too).  Citizen Kane, a classic in American cinema and a film I will DEFINITELY talk about in a post to come.  Repo! The Genetic Opera, a low budget horror musical about a company that repossesses organs.  There Will Be Blood, Harold and Maude, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, A Beautiful Mind, Army of Darkness and Into the Wild.  Freaks, a movie that, for a long time, was outlawed for it's disturbing images of real physically deformed people and horror.

Sorry about another short one (but I'm feeling a bit lazy today), I promise more to come but here's some good stuff to tie you over... http://musingsofamoviedouche.blogspot.com/

Hasta La Vista!